Assassins, the Stephen Sondheim musical about the many Americans compelled to shoot at presidents, is being produced in Boston, and the Globe's Megan Trench reports that the mother of one cast member isn't thrilled about its timing.
And anyone over 30 who's lived in Boston knows that the mother, former TV anchorwoman Liz Walker, is not one to back down from an argument:
Instead of expressing elation over her 20-year-old son's professional Boston stage debut, the award-winning newswoman-turned-minister paused before posing these questions, her son recalls: "Why would a show like 'Assassins' be done at a time when we're about to have a first black president? Why would we want to put that energy out there?"
And just like that, Nik Walker's euphoria collided with a stark reality. A black man and a Barack Obama supporter, he confessed such questions had never crossed his mind.
The timing is a bit odd, if only because one doesn't think of Assassins (or most Sondheim musicals) as escapist summer fare -- though maybe the target audience is Bostonians revolted by the thought of going to Provincetown to see frivolous drag shows.
